“It is not a person’s depth you must discover, but their ascent. Find their path from depth to ascent.” – Anne Michaels

Category: Grieving

I wrote the next ten additions to my happiness list on an aeroplane, flying to Ghana for a gathering of colleagues from across Africa with a shared vision for people-centred land governance: the International Land Coalition Africa‘s Annual Regional Forum and Assembly. I wrote in my journal that night, “Here I am again, miles above the … More Happiness 3: the Ghana edition

How did I mark the 5th anniversary of my mother’s death? With tears, of course. And music, as I naturally do. With memories, and smiles, and more tears. With an amazingly productive day of Strategic Planning at the organisation where she once worked, and where she brought as much passion as I now bring, in her own … More 5 Years Gone

Brene Brown, in her brilliant book “Rising Strong”, writes about what she calls the process of “Rumbling with Grief.” What she describes is probably the closest description of some of the things I have most struggled with in grieving, but found very hard to grasp or articulate. I was moved to share some quotes from … More Articulating Grief

One of my mother’s sisters gave me some unexpected gifts this evening: a beautiful jacket, and two songs, one of which touched deep layers of sorrow and gratitude that needed tears tonight. She also gifted me loving arms to hold me. Expressing the sense of relief these moments of falling softly, lightly, gently into the … More All I Ask Of You

It was inevitable that – working now at an organisation where my mother worked, even though it was many years ago – I would occasionally stumble across her name. It still made me catch my breath when I came across this message from a previous Director on our old website, while I am in the … More In Memoriam

I pulled over into a driveway, the usual busy morning traffic continuing to flow steadily past me; tears streaming, body shaken with sobs. As I heard the opening lines of Judy Collin’s “Who Knows Where the Time Goes”, all my senses were flooded with vivid flashbacks to Scotland, 2011: the texture of the grey skies … More Morning Tears

When I saw there was a Baroque 2000 ensemble performance at a local Monastery on the 31st May, I knew instantly that it would be a wonderful way to spend some time communing with memories of my mother on this fourth anniversary of her death. I have such a powerful recollections of sitting with her, … More Musical Memories